MARTYN MOXON insists that Yorkshire are ready to hit the ground running after their pre-season tour to Dubai.

The director of cricket said that the squad are in good fettle ahead of the club’s opening first-class match of the season tomorrow.

I’m really happy with the way the tour went. I thought our bowling throughout was really good.

Yorkshire CCC director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.

Yorkshire take on Leeds-Bradford MCCU in a three-day fixture at Headingley (11am start).

“We’re looking in decent shape going into the new season,” said Moxon.

“I’m really happy with the way the tour went.

“I thought our bowling throughout was really good.

“Our batting was a bit rusty in the first red-ball game against PNG (Papua New Guinea), but we batted much better in our second red-ball match against a strong Lancashire attack.

“Will Rhodes played a fantastic innings in our one-day match against PNG, held us together and won us the game when, again, we were a little bit rusty at the start. Tim Bresnan and Azeem Rafiq also put in good contributions.

“Then, in our last match, to score 400 against the UAE Blues was really a blueprint of how we want to play our 50-over cricket and how we want to bat.

“All in all, the trip worked well and hopefully we can keep things going against Leeds-Bradford.”

Yorkshire take on a Leeds-Bradford side who lost by 212 runs to Kent in Canterbury last week.

The students, captained by former Yorkshire pace bowler Moin Ashraf, found it tough going with the bat as they totalled 204 and 110 against Kent’s 370-6 dec and 156-5 dec.

The corresponding game at Headingley last year was ruined by rain, with the 74.4 overs of play confined to day one.

Yorkshire start their County Championship season on Friday when they take on Hampshire at Headingley.

Peter Handscomb, the Australian overseas batsman, is set to make his debut in that match, but Yorkshire will be without leading strike bowler Jack Brooks, who is currently sidelined for around a month with a calf injury.

Fellow pace bowlers Ryan Sidebottom (tight hamstring) and Liam Plunkett (tight calf) will be further assessed in the next couple of days, with Plunkett to undergo a scan.

“We will know the extent of any damage after that scan and, hopefully, that won’t be too bad and he’ll be playing next week with a bit of luck,” said Moxon.

David Willey is set to play for the second team next week after his recent shoulder operation.